


Wings

by amethystklarity



Category: Mario Story | Paper Mario, Super Mario & Related Fandoms
Genre: Adventure, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Fun if you know the canon, M/M, Mario and Peach make a cameo, More Chapters to Come, No Smut, Paper Mario Postcanon Setting, Romance, a smorgasbord of lgbt characters, fun if you don’t, lotsa OCs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:53:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24645970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amethystklarity/pseuds/amethystklarity
Summary: The year is 1986. Bowser's defeat has brought the Toadstool War to a screeching halt, and as the dust settles over a tired, battle-scarred Mushroom Kingdom, some semblance of peace begins to return to the land. Nevertheless, relations between the Mushroom People and the scattered, peaceful factions of Koopas remain colored by fear and mistrust. But in a remote village nestled in the eastern hills untarnished by the conflict, Karter and Parakieran, two best friends, are about to embark on a journey that will change their lives forever.
Relationships: spoilers ;) - Relationship
Kudos: 2





	1. Windfall

**Author's Note:**

> ~Hey, everybody. Klarence here.
> 
> -And I'm Violet! I'm here too!
> 
> ~I've been working on this piece for awhile with V's help and figured people might enjoy it.
> 
> -I've chimed in with the occasional make it gayer lol. Klarence has written a great story and I can't wait for everyone to read it!
> 
> ~ Aw, thanks!  
> And to you readers—peace out, and we'll see you again in the next chapter. Enjoy!

“Get up.” It was one in the afternoon and the idiot still wasn't awake.

Some inarticulate mumbling from under the bed covers. “Karter, for Eldstar's sake, get up!” cried the Paratroopa, shaking his friend by the arm, “This is important!”

The Koopa shifted so that his back was turned to the Paratroopa. “Five more minutes,” he muttered, and promptly fell asleep again.

Parakieran, having lost his patience on the way to Karter's house, gave a snort of disgust and yanked the covers clean off. Karter, disgruntled by the sudden lack of warmth, curled up with a grimace. “You've had your five minutes a hundred times over, dude. Come on, let's go.”

“Why don't you get off my case, huh?” the Koopa grumbled as he pulled himself out of bed. “I need my beauty rest.”

“Hah! As if that'll solve any of your problems.”

“Parakieran, it's a fucking Saturday,” Karter fired back, clenching his teeth. “I can sleep as late as I want.”

“Yeah, but this happens to be a very important Saturday. Get your shit together and come with me.” The Paratroopa grinned and headed for the door.

Shaking his head, Karter sighed in exasperation as he clambered into his shell and threw his jacket over his shoulders. “I can't win with you, can I?”  
“Not today, anyway,” replied Parakieran with a smirk as he threw open the door and gestured toward the living room. “After you.”

The two locked eyes for a split second, Parakieran matching his roguish confidence with Karter's frustrated resignation, and then laughed aloud in spite of themselves. “You're unbelievable, you know that?” the Koopa chuckled as he elbowed his friend in the shoulder.

“Unbelievable indeed,” a voice called waspishly from the kitchen as they entered the living room. Karter's mother stood at the table cutting up vegetables. “He managed to get you out of bed. That in and of itself is a miracle.” She never lifted her gaze from the knife, but gave Parakieran the distinct impression that she was watching them as they passed through the house. “Honestly, Karter,” she continued as she scraped the vegetables into a pot on the stove, “if you don't start trying to make something of yourself, one of these days you're going to look in the mirror and wonder where your life's gone.”

“Aw, mom,” he pleaded, “give it a rest. I'm only eighteen.”

At this she threw up her hands, opening her mouth as if to say something else, but seemed to think better of it and returned silently to her work. Karter merely rolled his eyes and trudged past the kitchen to the front door, letting it slam shut on the way out. Parakieran, at a loss, followed quietly behind him, taking care to draw as little attention to himself as possible. Staring at the floor, he fumbled about haplessly with the latch for a few seconds before he managed to get it to open.

“Parakieran.” The Paratroopa gave a start. “Thank you, dear,” uttered Katherine wearily with a trace of a smile. “Keep an eye on that good-for-nothing Koopa, will you?” He nodded sheepishly, returning the smile, and stepped outside, gently closing the door behind him.

Karter was already waiting by the side of the street, leaning against a fencepost with his arms crossed. “Well,” he began with an air of feigned annoyance as he kicked at the dust beneath his feet, “here I am. Where do you think you're gonna drag me today?”

“My place,” replied Parakieran, “same as always. It's not like there's anywhere else in town worth the trouble.”

“Amen to that,” Karter remarked drily as he stood with a yawn and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “Let's go.”

Parakieran lived on the other side of the village, but Windfall was a small community—about a mile across—and it never took longer than ten or fifteen minutes to get from one place to another. The two walked down the thoroughfare toward the center of town, Karter attempting to engage in small talk and Parakieran begging him to pick up the pace. As they neared the square, they were approached from the other side of the street by a familiar figure.

“Hey, Quicksilver!” she shouted by way of greeting as she came within earshot, catching Karter's attention.

“Oh, hey, Kallie. What's up?”

“Beats me,” she shrugged, cracking a grin. “Hi, Short Circuit.” The Paratroopa waved awkwardly, a little conscious of the nickname and keenly aware of the fact that despite her amicable nature, she was well out of his friend's league. Oh, well, he thought wryly to himself, at least he tries. He shifted uncomfortably beneath the gaze that lingered just a little too long on his own eyes. They were difficult to miss—the right a vibrant jade and the left a soft, pale yellow. He was all too familiar now with that look that fell some-where between curiosity and mild derision. There was nothing intentionally spiteful in it, and it didn't bother him so much as it used to, but people still noticed and he knew it.

“Listen,” she continued, finally turning her attention back to the Koopa, “I'm real sorry, Karter, but I can't go out tonight. Family obligations and all that. You wanna try for Wednesday night instead? I should be free then.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” he agreed, giving a halfhearted smile that could hardly conceal his disappointment. “Wednesday is fine.”

“Great. See you then!” she replied, and kept walking down the street as if she had never stopped.

“Alright… see you…” he murmured as he watched her stroll around the corner and out of sight. After a few moments he glanced at Parakieran with a frown. “Something tells me the same thing's gonna happen on Wednesday.”

“Aw, cheer up, K. You'll get your chance soon enough.” The reality was that it had happened already—twice—but he didn't have the heart to bring that up at the moment.

“You think so?” asked Karter, a tinge of hope in his voice.

“Of course.”

“…Thanks, Para.”

“It's what I'm here for. Which reminds me,”—here he gestured toward the far end of the square—“we'd better hurry if we're gonna make it back on time. Come on.”

Karter scoffed. “What's the rush, dude? First you come into my house and make me get out of bed, and now—”

“You'll see when we get there,” interrupted the Paratroopa.

“Dammit, Parakieran—”

“Alright, alright. Fine. You remember the radio I had smuggled in about a month ago?"

“Yeah.” Technology was difficult to come by these days. “Busted, right?”

“Yep. I finally got around to cracking it open this morning. Turns out the capacitor bridging the power supply was juiced. Luckily I had some old junk lying around and managed to salvage one.”

“So you fixed it.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, big deal. You fix shit all the time. Why'd you have to drag me across town to tell me that?”

“There's more,” whispered the Paratroopa with an edge of excitement. “As soon as the thing came back to life I started searching the airwaves. Since we're out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by hills, I was mostly picking up static—occasionally I'd find something, but it was all sort of grainy and difficult to understand. Then one station comes through loud and clear, all the way from Toad Town.”

“Toad Town?” A look of genuine surprise passed over Karter's face. “But it's a thousand miles from here!”

“Twelve hundred. I guess they must use one of those huge broadcasting towers.” They had arrived at Parakieran's house, the door still standing wide open from when he'd left twenty minutes ago. “Anyway,” he added as he vaulted up the front steps, “I caught wind of a live transmission from the castle grounds scheduled for one-thirty and figured you wouldn't want to miss it. Come inside.”  
“Back already, Parakieran?” his mother joked as he stumbled through the doorway with his friend in tow. “You must have been in quite a hurry. I hope you didn't give Karter whiplash—the poor thing was probably still in bed when you got there, wasn't he?”

“Not for long, anyway,” the Koopa chimed in good-humoredly. “Para made sure of that.”

Kassandra smiled knowingly. “Well, I'm assuming he's already told you about the broadcast. You've still got about five minutes before it starts, so make yourself at home. I'll be around someplace if you need anything.”

Karter thanked her, and the two made their way back to Parakieran's room where the radio was sitting on the desk. A pile of broken electrical equipment (all in pieces) and some soldering tools lay on the floor in the corner. As they went in the Paratroopa unwrapped the long, orange scarf he'd been wearing and threw it carelessly over the back of a chair.

“I'll never understand why you always wear that thing,” Karter commented as he sat down on the edge of the bed. “I mean, it's not that cold outside.”

“I dunno,” returned Parakieran from under the table. “Same reason you always wear that jacket, I guess.”

Karter shrugged and began staring vacantly at the cobwebs on the ceiling while the Paratroopa searched the wall for an outlet. A pause. “You know, you could have just brought the radio to my house. Would've saved us the trip back.”

“Yeah,” said Parakieran as he resurfaced, “I could have. But it was more fun to annoy you instead.” He gave Karter a cheeky look from over his shoulder and sat down in front of the radio.  
Karter snorted drily. “You're so fucking juvenile.”

“But you're laughing. Which, if I'm not mistaken, makes two of us.” He switched the radio on and began making adjustments. “I'm older than you anyway.”

“By two months!”

“Whatever.” The radio, which had been emitting a quiet static, suddenly kicked over to an advertisement for soap. Parakieran glanced over at Karter, who was frowning at the cobwebs again. He didn't usually get this frustrated. “I'm sorry,” he put in, a little more gently. “You know I was just messing with you, right?”

“Yeah, Para, I know. It's okay. It's just that…well, I've been getting a lot of crap at home lately and it's starting to put me on edge.”

“Okay, okay. I'll lay off, then.”

“Alright.” An awkward silence followed as a guitar solo wailed from the speakers in the background alongside a TV ad.

Parakieran turned his chair so he was facing the Koopa. “This town drives you crazy, doesn't it? Being stuck here and everything, I mean.”

“Sometimes I can deal with it. Other times—it feels like a prison.” Karter put his head in his hands. 

“There's nothing here and nowhere else to go. I don't have a significant other, I don't have a father, and I sure as hell don't have a life. So what's the use when all you hear every second of your existence is ‘make something of yourself’ and all you can do is bite your tongue and keep trying to exist?”

Parakieran thought for a moment. “Karter…listen, it's hard. The feeling of being trapped, it just sort of chips away at your sanity. I get that. Just know that I've always got your back, dude. And trust me,” he continued, “things are going to get better soon.”

Karter gave him a piercing look. “How do you know that, Para?”

“What if I told you that none of us were stuck here?”

“What do you mean?”

“I guess you needed this more than I thought…ah, it sounds like the newscast is about to start. Come over here and have a listen.”


	2. Takeoff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~ What's up, everybody? It's been a while.  
> \- We are here with the new update!  
> ~ Hope you guys enjoy. I think I'll sign off and go grab a coffee—can't hold my eyes open lol  
> \- Have fun and...stay healthy haha  
> ~ See ya!

“So that's it, huh?” Karter mused as the broadcast ended. “War's over.” He turned to Parakieran. “What's the point?”

The Paratroopa looked at him as though he'd grown a third arm. “What do you _mean_ , 'what's the point?' Bowser's toast. Finished. The kingdom's at peace for the first time in over a year. You can't tell me that isn't—”

“I'm saying it doesn't matter. For us, I mean. This town…the war never touched it, period. All those months of fighting and we never suffered a scratch. So the kingdom's at peace. That's great and all, but why should I care? Nothing's changed here.”

“…You really don't get it, do you?”

“Guess not. Care to enlighten me?”

“Karter, you've been dying to get out of Windfall for ages. This place has never been anything _but_ a prison to you. Don't worry,” he added as the Koopa opened his mouth to protest, “I'm not offended. If we're being honest here I don't care much for it either.” Karter smiled sadly. “And it's been this way since before we were born. For the past twenty-odd years it's been a nightmare no one would have dreamed of escaping. This sad little village and hundreds of others like it isolated themselves for protection from the dangers of the outside world…but you already know this. I mean, come on, we've _lived_ it. All of us have coped, tried to rebuild a sense of normalcy, kept society from falling apart. It's been enough to drive anyone to the brink of insanity. But now it's _over_ , and we're _free_.”

Karter looked at the floor. “Para, they hate us out there. Our kind are scum now. Bowser's the 'Koopa King', so we've gotta be the disgusting little fuckers who do his dirty work. It's absolute bullshit, all of it.”

“Agreed,” interjected the Paratroopa. “And I've got a feeling the rest of the kingdom is going to come around too.” Karter shook his head silently. “Listen. The traitors? Most of them wouldn't dare beg for mercy. It's too late in the game for that. If they have any sense left they'll flee the country as quickly as they can…which leaves us.” Now Karter made eye contact with him. The piercing stare had returned. “You understand now, don't you?” He nodded slowly.

A long pause. “Para…” began the Koopa, rising woodenly from where he'd been sitting, “…thanks. I mean it.” His voice sounded almost hollow. “I'd… better be getting home now. Guess I've got some thinking to do.” He made his way to the door, hesitated for a moment, then turned back to his friend. “See you soon, dude.” He put a hand on his shoulder, withdrew it, and left the house—and Parakieran—in silence.

~~~~~

“Are you feeling alright, hon? You've hardly touched your food.”

The sound of his mother's voice brought Parakieran back to his senses. “…Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just…not very hungry, that's all.” He'd been gazing at the deep orange glow that shone from the clouds as the sun sank beyond the rolling hills in the west.

“Something on your mind?”

“Well—no, not really. Sorting a few things out, I guess.” _That's a lie and you know it_ , he thought as he pushed his fork around on his plate sullenly. “Why?”

“I don't know…you seem a little anxious. Maybe it's just me.”

“…It's nothing major, honestly. Besides, I don't wanna waste your time or anything.”

“Para, look at me.” He raised his head slowly to meet his mother in the eyes. They were a deeper green than his right, like emeralds, and right now it felt as though they were shining into the very depths of his soul. “First of all, nothing you have to say to me is _ever_ a waste of my time. Okay?” (A nod.) “And second…well, I couldn't help but overhear the conversation you had with Karter.” (Silence.) “From what I understand…now that he has the chance, he's probably going to leave the village soon. Am I wrong?”

“…I had to tell him. I-I felt like I'd be holding him back if I didn't—”

“And it was a selfless thing to do.” She took the Paratroopa by the hand. “I know this is difficult for you, because he's your best friend and no one will ever replace him. Really that's difficult for anyone.” Now it was her turn to break eye contact and stare out the window at the mottled crimson sky. For a while the quiet was punctuated only by the faint hum of the insects outside as they prepared for their midnight vigil. Kassandra sighed with an air of resolve. “But baby, I just want you to think…what's keeping you here? What's stopping you from going with him?”

Parakieran lowered his gaze. “It's not my battle to fight, Mom.”

“But it _is_. Para, the moment you were born I knew you were destined for something greater. There was…this spark in your eyes. Promise. And it gave me so much hope. I've spent the past nineteen years trying to nurture that spark in you, to help you search for what it is you're meant to get out of life and chase your dreams. And now look at you. You're of age, you've got the whole world ahead of you, and you're standing on the cusp of an opportunity of a lifetime with your best friend at your side and the wind at your back.” She paused, collecting her thoughts for a moment. “Para…do you remember how you always used to ask me why you were born with wings?”

“How could I forget?” he replied, subdued, glancing over his shoulder at the feathery appendages that were neatly folded at his back. It was a habit he'd developed at a young age to keep his presence to a minimum. “They made me feel like I was…different than everyone else.”

“I know they did, baby,” she murmured consolingly, “I know.” _Kassandra, let him do the talking._

“A-and, you know, for years I was the freak, not to mention the only Paratroopa in the entire village. You tried to protect me from the rumors, but I heard them anyway. I _heard_ them.” His voice grew louder. “I had faulty genes, there was an anomaly in the breeding process, my egg got fucking _scrambled_. All because”—he was fighting back tears—“all because I _looked_ different. There was never anything wrong with me.” He hesitated, swallowed hard, caught his breath. “And these wings…I always sort of thought they were meant to be a reminder of how different I was from everyone else. Universe playing a practical joke, y'know? Karter…he was the only one who treated me like somebody. Never thought about it twice. Only real friend I ever had. And when the sun rises tomorrow…he'll be gone, forever. I felt it in my bones when he walked out this afternoon.”

“Para, honey…” Kassandra began carefully, “can I ask you another question?”

“…Sure.”

“Do you think maybe Karter might be having doubts of his own?”

~~~~~

“Sunset,” the Koopa muttered to himself as he paced the strip for the fortieth time. _Must've been out here a while. Funny how time slows down when you're thinking._ He had, in fact, been walking the streets alone ever since he'd left Parakieran's house—it helped free his mind of distractions. Over the past two or three hours the activity in the square had dwindled considerably, as it always did in the evenings. Now it was all but empty. Sometimes he would hear snatches of conversation from the open windows of the shops or a couple of stragglers heading home for the night, but for the most part it was just him and the sounds of nature. The fireflies were out in droves this summer, and as he trudged meditatively down the path one or two would occasionally pass in front of him for a moment, winking playfully in the fading light. Under brighter circumstances this might have brought a smile to his face, but at present all he could think about was the importance of the decision he was about to make.

_You understand now, don't you?_

The words echoed hauntingly in the back of Karter's mind, accompanied by the melancholy image of Parakieran's eyes staring directly into his own. _He knew it was gonna hurt him to tell me and he did it anyway. Wild._ He stood there in the middle of the street for a moment, soaking in the familiarity of his surroundings. On the east side of the square were the tailor's shop and the only restaurant in town, whose food was notorious for its mediocrity. South was the apothecary, which always had a strange smell about it, and back in the corner of the square was the public garden area. Over on the north side was the market, which was still open. He briefly considered paying the shopkeeper's assistant a visit to lift his spirits. They'd been on good terms for some time now. Kody was young, around twenty, and had an easy, convivial manner about him that the Koopa found fascinating. Admittedly, he was handsome…but Karter knew deep down that he had about as much of a chance with him as he did with Kallie, if not less. _Probably isn't interested in guys to begin with. I'd only be lying to myself._ Shaking his head a little, he let the subject drop for the time being and tried to refocus his thoughts on the matter at hand.

Two options had presented themselves, and neither one…felt right. He could stay here in town, maybe start as an apprentice in a trade and climb the ranks over the next few years. That would be respectable enough, but the thought of spending his life forcing himself to work at a job he'd never wanted was enough to make his stomach turn. Secretly he'd always been drawn to writing—it was one of the few things he considered himself fairly skilled at—but people tended not to notice. Two or three years prior he had discovered poetry. For months he had feverishly scribbled down verses in a little journal he kept by his bedside: nature, existence, beauty, the individual, love. He craved the smell of the paper and the feel of the pen, because they allowed him to escape to a world of meaning. Day after day he poured his heart into that journal—until the fateful morning it disappeared from his desk drawer. Those first few seconds of panic, thinking he'd somehow misplaced it. Rushing around the house, trying to remember all the places he'd been.

And then those words.

“You looking for that book?” his mother had asked. It was odd, but he could remember the way the light from the window hit her face in that moment—it had been strangely bright that morning.

“…Yes.”

“I don't suppose you'll be needing that anymore.”

Dread.

“W-what do you mean?”

“Got rid of it.”

“…what?”

“Wasn't much for reading, anyway. Load of rubbish.”

A pitiful noise had escaped his throat. “I…I…”

“Karter, there are better ways you could be spending your time, you know. Making yourself useful instead of writing all that nonsense.” A pause. “You don't want to end up a lazy, worthless drifter like your father, do you?”

Stunned

silence.

He had just barely managed to hold it together until he returned to his bedroom, where he shut himself in, crawled into his shell, and wept bitterly until there were no more tears left to cry.

It had taken him the better part of a week to recover from the loss. It was only a journal, but he had invested so much of himself in it that it felt like he'd lost a part of his soul—and had it not been for Parakieran, it might have gone much worse. The Paratroopa had stuck by him, offering whatever small consolation he could give without hesitation or pretense. He'd read a great deal of what Karter had written and knew what it had meant to him. It was a simple gesture of kindness, but for Karter it had marked one of the first times someone had taken a genuine interest in his feelings. The two quickly became close after that, and had been inseparable ever since.

Karter gazed pensively at the rolling hills to the west, as he had done many times. Beyond the city gates lay the rest of civilization—its possibilities, its dangers, its beauty, and the sheer vastness of it all—and in that moment Windfall had never felt so small. _But_ _I can't leave him. He's my best friend and I'd be abandoning him if I skipped town. It's miserable here, but I wouldn't trade him for the world…would I?_ Karter kicked angrily at the dust, swearing under his breath. _I don't have the answer, no one does. And no one ever told me life was gonna—_

“Karter?”

The Koopa whipped around to find someone observing him with an expression that bordered on concern.

“…Kody. H-Hey.” He took a moment to compose himself. “Closed up for the night?” _Take it easy, make small talk. There's no way outta this one._

“Yup,” the shopkeeper's assistant replied nonchalantly, “business was slow and the boss man decided there wasn't any point in keeping the store open. I was just on my way home from work.” He gave Karter a side-eye. “You alright, by the way? You seem worried.”

Karter chuckled anxiously. “Yeah, I guess I am a little high-strung right now, come to think of it.” _You're making too much eye contact._

“Anything I can do to help?”

“I bet I can think of someth—” _Karter, you_ shithead! _What's_ wrong _with you?_ He slapped a hand to his mouth, mortified. The other Koopa raised his eyebrows a little. “I'm so sorry. To tell you the truth my brain is all over the place right now and I just—”

“Calm down, it's all good. No harm done.”

“Okay.” A sigh. _You're a moron, Karter._ “Can I ask you something?”

“…Yeah, shoot.”

“Let's say a close friend told you that you had the option to go find your destiny elsewhere. You can either set out on your own and make a way for yourself…or stay with that friend. Which would you choose?”

“Implying I can only choose one?”

“Well…yeah.”

Kody looked at him curiously. “If it were me I _wouldn't_ choose one.”

“What?”

“Simple enough. That friend obviously places a higher value on my wellbeing than their own interests. That's about as unselfish as you can get—and friends _that_ genuine are hard to find. Personally, I'd ask them if they wanted to come with. Travelling alone is hard enough anyway. And if I stand to gain from the experience… well, who am I to deny it to a friend who cared enough to show me the opportunity in the first place?”

Karter was amazed by his own blindness. “That's _it._ ”

“Huh?”

“You're a genius.” Without another moment's hesitation, he planted a kiss on the astonished Koopa's cheek, turned abruptly, and bolted in the direction of Parakieran's house.


End file.
